POLYMER SURFACE MODIFICATION WITH PLASMA SOURCE ION IMPLANTATION TECHNIQUE

The wetting property of polymer surfaces is very important for practical applications. Plasma source ion implantation technique was used to improve the wetting properties of polymer surfaces. Poly(ethylene terephtalate) and other polymer sheets were mounted on the target stage and an RF plasma was generated by means of an antenna located inside the vacuum chamber. High voltage pulses of up to -10kV, 10 $\mu$sec, and up to 1 kHz were applied to the stage. The samples were implanted for 5 minutes with using Ar, $N_2,O_2,CH_4,CF_4$ and their mixture as source gases. A contact angle meter was used to measure the water contact angles of the implanted samples and of the samples stored in ambient conditions after implantation. The modified surfaces were analysed with Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (TOF-SIMS) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES). The oxygen-implanted samples showed extremely low water contact angles of $3^{\circ}C$ compared to $79^{\circ}C$ of unimplanted ones. Furthermore, the modified surfaces were relatively stable with respect to aging in ambient conditions, which is one of the major concerns of the other surface treatment techniques. From TOF-SIMS analysis it was found that oxygen-containing functional groups had been formed on the implanted surfaces. On the other hand, the $CF_4$-implanted samples turned out to be more hydro-phobic than unimplanted ones, giving water contact angles exceeding $100^{\circ}C$ . The experiment showed that plasma source ion implantation is a very promising technique for polymer surface modification especially for large area treatment.